Man takes on five-year £500k charity river challenge

When Sam Perrett's wife, Nikki, was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2023, his whole outlook on life changed.

He not only wanted to be fitter and healthier, but the father-of-two from Worcester vowed to make a difference and raise money for the charity MS Society.

From there, his five-year £500,000 fundraising challenge, Source2Sea, was born.

"In essence, it's a series of expeditions along five rivers over the next five years, using a combination of hiking, kayaking and cycling, with the River Severn being the first one this year," he said.

The other rivers are the Rhone in France and Switzerland, the Tagus in Spain and Portugal, and the Rhine, which begins in the Swiss Alps and ends in the Netherlands.

The fifth is to be determined.

"I have some ideas, but it's got to be big; it's the big finale," said Mr Perrett, an IT worker who is in his mid-thirties.

"The River Severn… is essentially nothing more than a training run for the other four!"

"It's definitely going to be a challenge, that's for sure," he told the BBC.

In preparation, he got himself a personal trainer and lost about 17kg, even building a gym at home, which he shares with Nikki, in her 30s, and his two daughters, aged nine and two, to help him train.

"I've never really done any of this before; I've done leisurely kayaking… I've done some leisurely cycling," he said.

"Before six months ago, I'd never stepped foot in a gym."

His River Severn exhibition route is 385km (239m) over seven days.

"It's a 46km hike just on day one… and then it's five days of kayaking where I've got to average about 48km a day, and then an 80km cycle from Gloucester down to Portishead on the last day."

He said his wife's diagnosis had been tough for the family.

"I didn't really know what it meant at the time. She's not particularly old; she's late 30s, so it's not a fun place to be in, especially when you've got two young girls.

"It was just all those questions – what does this mean for the future?"

He added that he wanted to raise as much as he could.

"If I can get to £500,000 over the five years, I'll be very happy, but that's a big ask and a big target, but it's something to aim for."

According to the NHS, MS is a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.

It cannot be cured, but treatment can help to manage it.

Symptoms include fatigue, blurred vision, dizziness, memory problems, cramp and numbness.

Nikki has relapsing-remitting MS, which means she has flare-ups of symptoms where they get worse and then go away or get better.

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